Earlier this year I was lucky enough to get a chance to visit the Norman Lindsay Gallery and Museum in NSW. I’m a huge fan of his work and was amazed at seeing his studio and home. I did the above sketches from two of the sculptures he had made in his gardens. He seemed determined to carve his estate in to the shape of his visions, a sort of Grecian, mythical playground of sorts.
Norman Lindsay was one of those fantastic artists who had a recognisable style that he explored in both flat and multi dimensional work. I’m always impressed when when I find artists who can do this. I’ve explored it to some degree with making maquettes for figures I’m painting, but I’ve never made any as finished pieces on to themselves.
I was a little underwhelmed with the work that was one display however. This was probably due to the traveling exhibition that visited theArt Gallery of Western Australia a few years ago. It featured all of his etchings which was pretty overwhelming.
One stand out at the Museum was a comic he had done depicting a cat stalking a rooster, pouncing on it and then being fiercely kicked off. He managed to pull so much character and emotion out of the animals, probably more than I’ve ever seen any other artist do. This was without turning them in to Disney caricatures of animals either.
